Whats New in DNS Server in Windows Server 2016

Windows Server 2016 is almost ready to be launched. The expected release date for Windows Server 2016 is the first quarter in 2017. There are various new features and enhancement (improvements) have been introduced with Windows Server 2016. Here, we are going to discuss what is new in DNS server in Windows Server 2016. If you are serious about the learning Windows Server 2016, following eBook may help you a lot.

New Functions in DNS Server in Windows Server 2016

The following are some of the key features and functions that are available within DNS Server in Windows Server 2016.

Note: This article is based on Windows Server 2016 technical preview 5 version.

DNS Policies

You can configure DNS policies to define how a DNS server answers to DNS queries. DNS responses can be based on client IP address (location), time of the day, and several other parameters.

In which scenarios, the DNS policies can help you?

The following are some of the common scenarios where DNS policies can be helpful:

Application high availability: DNS clients can be redirected to the best-suited endpoint for a specific application.

Traffic management: Now, DNS server helps to utilize bandwidth in the better manner. In order to reduce the bandwidth consumption, DNS clients can be redirected to the nearest datacenter.

Split-Brain DNS: DNS records are split into different Zone Scopes. The DNS clients receive an answer depending on whether they are internal or external clients.

Protection from malicious users: Malicious IP addresses and FQDNs can be blocked to prevent from performing DNS queries. In addition, malicious DNS clients can be redirected to a specific network zone (where they can be managed) instead of the system they are trying to access.

Time and day based redirection: This allows you to redirect specific DNS clients to specific datacenters during the specific time of the day.

Response Rate Limiting

You can enable response rate limiting on your DNS servers. Doing this allows you to avoid the possibility of malicious systems using your DNS servers to initiate a Denial of Service (DoS) attack from a DNS client.

DNS-based Authentication of Named Entities

With the DNS in Windows Server 2016, you can use Transport Layer Security Authentication (TLSA) records to prevent Man-In-The-Middle (MITM) attacks.

Supports Unknown Records

With the DNS in Windows Server 2016, you can add records which are not explicitly supported by the Windows DNS server. This is done by using the unknown record feature.

Supports IPv6 Root Hints

Now, DNS server in Windows Server 2016 supports the native IPv6 root hints. It helps to perform the Internet name resolution using the IPv6 root servers.

Along with the above-mentioned new features of DNS Server in Windows Server 2016, there are various new Windows PowerShell cmdlets have been added. These new cmdlets allow you to configure and manage the DNS server in Windows Server 2016 with more flexibility and CLI control.

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